


A Marvelous Movie Night

by Starkvenger



Series: Billy Batson Needs More Love [6]
Category: Justice League - All Media Types, Shazam! | Captain Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Back to the Future References, Civilian Clothes, F/M, Gen, Identity Reveal, Justice League (DCU) as Family, Movie Night, Protective Bruce Wayne, Secret Identity, Team Bonding, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23852143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starkvenger/pseuds/Starkvenger
Summary: Captain Marvel gets invited to movie night with the rest of the League.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Billy Batson, Billy Batson & Bruce Wayne, Billy Batson & Justice League, Dinah Lance/Oliver Queen
Series: Billy Batson Needs More Love [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/732474
Comments: 25
Kudos: 620





	A Marvelous Movie Night

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I may or may not have written this while eating ramen.
> 
> Also- this one is from my collection of one-shots that I thought deserved its own fic. :3

\- - -

Billy sat down on the old, worn down couch sitting in the living room of his abandoned apartment, scooching into the torn grey fabric with a plastic fork in one hand and a styrofoam cup of ramen in the other. He folded his legs beneath him, smiling to himself and the luck he'd had in managing to score a warm cup of ramen that evening.

A cold breeze blew through the cracks in the window, making the boy shy away from the cold and hug his food tighter to his body. It was September, which meant colder weather and the sun going down earlier. When he was little, he used to love cold weather- jumping in piles of leaves, playing in the snow, hot cocoa on a chilly night...

Now it just added another risk to his already dangerous life. It felt like he was always worrying about insulating his home or trying to find warm clothing and food- not fun when you lived on the streets. 

The wind quieted down, allowing the 12-year-old to focus on the warm food still steaming in his hands. He smiled down at it, jabbing his fork into the noodles and bringing it to his mouth. A sudden rapping at the door made him flinch, grip tightening on the styrofoam cup as his fork fell into the mixture.

Billy furrowed his brow, staring at the door in confusion. There weren't many people living in this building, only an elderly man and a quiet younger man, and they never bothered him. Maybe someone was checking to see it the place was empty so they could crash there?

Billy set his cup of noodles down on the couch and slid off the edge, padding over quietly to the door to stare through a crack in the wall.

He could tell it was a man by the pants, which were all he could see through the crack, and what looked like a businessman at that- the pants looked pressed and clean. They were a dark fabric and fit the man nicely; so it was likely someone who could afford a tailored suit. 

That didn't explain why this businessman was here though; this was the last place he'd think to see someone like this guy. Billy swallowed thickly and grabbed the door handle, creaking it open slowly and peeking through. "Uhm, I'm sorry, but this place is ta-" the words died on his mouth at the sight of Bruce standing in the doorway, eyebrow quirked.

"Mr. Wayne- what- what're you-" Billy stammered, opening the door wider and furrowing his brow in confusion. "I don' understand."

"Billy, how many times have I told you to call me Bruce?" the billionaire asked with a tilt of his head, coming inside the shabby apartment and closing the old door behind him. Billy rubbed the back of his neck and glanced to the side. It was too many times to count- but it still felt wrong to call him by his first name.

Sure, they worked together on a daily basis, but Bats- er, Bruce, was still his superior.

The man smirked- that always threw Billy for a loop. There was such a disconnect from Batman and Bruce Wayne- one was dark and gruff, no-nonsense and critical, and the other was a father of four that liked to ruffle Billy's hair and try to get him to come live with him by promising him Alfred's cookies.

"I'm teasing, Billy," he said, pulling out a plastic sack from behind him. "Here," he said, only to get a look from Billy.

"Mr. Wayne, I told you i-"

"Just take the bag, Billy."

The 12-year-old grabbed the plastic bag from the billionaire and looked inside- clothing like he'd suspected, but there was something off about it. For one, the clothing was way too big for him by the looks of it. The black sweater and what Billy assumed was jeans looked like they'd fit _Superman_ better than they'd fit him. Billy glanced up at the billionaire in confusion, and only got a wry grin in return.

"You remember yesterday's meeting?" he asked as Billy set the clothes down on the floor. He nodded slowly, thinking back on the conversations of the meeting.

Something about what they were going to start doing with goons, something about repairs that needed to be made to the Watchtower, all normal stuff. What did this have to do with the clothes?

"Mandatory team enrichment. Emphasis on the _mandatory_ part." Bruce said, glancing around the place. "Clark's requiring that we come in civilian clothing, and I'm sure you don't have anything that fits the Captain," he said with a grin. 

Billy rubbed the back of his neck. "No, but I- I don' understand."

Bruce sighed. "Do you want the others to know your identity yet?"

"No..."

"Then take the clothes, and wear them on Friday. Movie night in the Watchtower. No skipping out, got it?"

"Wha...?"

"It was Clark's idea."

\- - -

Cap stared at himself in the cracked mirror in his apartment, eyeing the puffy black 'Gotham Academy' sweater pulled over his uniform. His golden braces poked through the edges of his sleeves, the metal glinting in the low light. The top of his uniform poked through as well, bright red material practically glowing against the dark fabric of the sweatshirt.

He glanced down at the faded jeans that had been an absolute _nightmare_ to fit his boots through, but since his cape was the only thing Cap had been able to figure out how to take off, he'd sucked it up and managed to get them through....after 20 minutes. 

Thick plastic and metal felt heavy in his hand as he glanced down at the fake glasses that had also been in the bag, the demigod lifting them to his face and pushing them up the bridge of his nose. The rims were wide and felt strange, edging on the corners of his vision. like that. He'd never even tried glasses on before, so this- this felt weird. He looked at himself in the mirror and tried a nervous smile.

A buzz in the back of his head that Cap recognized as Solomon told him he looked like a tired grad student in this get-up and he agreed with him- even though he wasn't really sure what a grad student was. 

The demigod ran a hand through his hair and let out a puff of air- was he really gonna do this? He'd never really joined the League before on their "team enrichment" meetings. He chuckled slightly at the term- they should just call it what it was- hangin' out. Still, He'd never joined not just because he didn't have casual clothes for this form.

Sure, he'd always been invited, sometimes even by name- but he'd always managed to get out of pizza night or going to a bar, or whatever it was that Hal referred to when he talked about 'getting some'. He never really felt like he _deserved_ to be there; it wasn't like he was some important member like Flash or Diana.

He was just... Cap. 

The guy that got on people's nerves.

The demigod sighed, his shoulders drooping slightly. "Maybe- maybe this is a bad idea. Maybe I should just- say something came up. You think I can use Sivanna as an excuse again?" A sharp pain in his temple told him no, he couldn't do that.

"Okay, okay, ow- fine. I'll- I'll go. But I'm not promising to stay for long," he said, the pain fading from his head. Marvel rolled his eyes at the pseudo-god in his head. "Drama Queen."

\- - -

Captain Marvel felt his nerves fraying when the Zeta Beam finally let him into the Watchtower. He felt betrayed, honestly, since Achilles really seemed to be lacking with the whole courage thing right now. He attempted to shake the thing off, messing with the rim of the fake glasses before pulling them off and glancing down at them in frustration. 

"How do people wear these things?" he muttered to himself before shoving them into the kangaroo pocket of the sweater with a huff. 

"They're not _that_ bad," a gruff voice said from behind him, spooking the demigod and making him jump.

"Gah! Wha-" he turned to find Bruce standing behind him, in a black turtleneck of all things. "Bat- uh- Mr. Wayne," he said nervously, and yeah, this whole thing just hit a new level of weird. Calling Bruce by his real name felt even weirder in this form than it did as Billy.

"Relax, Billy. It'll be fine," Bruce said reassuringly, setting a hand on his shoulder. "Though uh, I didn't think you'd be wearing your suit underneath the clothes I gave you."

Cap blushed, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Oh- uh, yeah, the suit doesn't really...come off. Package deal..." he said, dropping his gaze.

"Ah, I understand," Bruce said, dropping his hand. "Come on, the others are probably already here." he said, taking the lead down the hall. 

Well, no chance of changing his mind now. Cap followed Bruce closely, chewing on his bottom lip. They passed a couple of heroes still in uniform, and the pair ignored Bruce in favor of staring at him- the demigod felt his cheeks heat up and dropped his head. "This- this feels so weird," he said as he followed Bruce.

"Relax, Billy. Everything'll be alright."

"If you say so."

Batman paused in his step, only to continue walking not a second later. "That reminds me- what do you want me to call you around everyone? Billy isn't really a grown-up name."

"But it's my...name..."

"Well, technically, you're name's William. There's a lot of variations of that."

"Like what?"

"Well, there's Bill, Will, Billy, Liam, Wiley..." Bruce trailed off, glancing back at Cap with a smirk. "We'll go with Bill, okay? Make things simple," he said with a wink. Marvel nodded, a small smile gracing his face.

That was what his dad used to call him.

Soon enough, the pair had reached a room that Cap didn't recognize. It had a double metallic sliding door, but it was tucked away in a corner of the Watchtower he was pretty sure he'd never been in. The doors slid open when the pair got close to them, revealing a large room with a dip in the floor full of pillows and blankets (Solomon told him it was something called a 'conversation pit' in front of a massive movie screen.

Now, Billy hadn't been to a movie since he was four, but he was pretty sure that it was bigger than a normal movie screen. He glanced at Batman, who simply smirked at him, before taking a look around the rest of the room. There was a kitchenette, a pool table, a bar by the looks of it, and he was almost positive there was more stuff tucked away around the corner.

"Holy Moley," he muttered, glancing around the room before realizing that he and Bruce weren't alone. The rest of the core league members- that being Diana, Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, and Black Canary were sitting in the 'conversation pit' and watching them with slightly widened eyes.

Flash- at least he assumed it was Flash- sped over to hang off his shoulder. 

He gave him a low whistle, looking him up and down before running a hand through his bright blonde hair. "You...are not good at passing for a civilian, Cap," he said, knocking on the golden bracers poking out of his sleeve. "Come on, big guy- it's supposed to be no capes."

Cap furrowed his brow. "But I don' have my cape on."

"Yeah, but the rest of it ain't supposed to be there either, Sir zaps-a-lot," Flash said with a smirk. The man was expressive while in costume, but Marvel had never realized just how much he moved his face when he talked. 

Hal rolled his eyes and stood up, walking over to the pair and prying Flash off the demigod. "You have _got_ to work on your manners, Barry."

"Your name's Barry?" Cap asked, tilting his head slightly in question. Flash smirked and nodded excitedly.

"Yessir- Barry Allen, fastest man alive," he said with a grin before posing. "But turning the conversation on me isn't gonna get you out of this mister- Why're you pullin' a Superman? If he can't do it on movie night, neither can you," he said, pointing an accusatory finger at the demigod with a grin.

"I uh- w-well-" Cap stammered, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. "My- my suit doesn't really...come off," he said, meeting the speedster's remarkably blue eyes nervously. "It's uh... part of the whole _Champion_ package."

"Oh- uh, my bad, man. You...really don't got a civilian life, huh..." Barry asked, his face suddenly growing sad. "I'm sorry."

"Alright, enough with the 20 questions, Flash," Bruce said, giving the man a look before shaking his head when the speedster took off back towards his spot in the pit. He turned towards Cap and pat his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Why don't you go say hi?"

Cap nodded, turning towards where the other members were and walking toward it. He came around the edge of what looked like a couch that had been dragged into the pit, and gave a little wave. "Hey guys..."

"Hey Captain- sit down, we can make room," a man with curly black hair and glasses said- he could only assume this was Superman; the glasses on his face didn't really do anything to change his facial structure.

"Thanks, Superman."

The Man of Steel smirked. "Well, Diana owes me twenty dollars," he said with a smirk towards the Amazonian, "And call me Clark. Clark Kent," he reached over Barry and Hal to shake the demigod's hand. 

Cap smiled softly and sat down, only to be pelted in the back of his head by something soft. He brought a hand to his head reflexively and glanced back, finding a blonde man with a goatee behind him, holding a bowl in one arm and a single piece of popcorn, ready to be flicked, in the other. 

"Alright, you brick wall- whoa, Cap? I didn't know you came to these things," the man said, a smirk appearing on his face.

"I uh- well, this is my first time, actually," he replied nervously. "Oh but I can move, uhhh..." he shook his head. "Sorry. I don't know who you are out of costume," he said, scrambling up. A lady with thick blonde hair came up behind the blonde man and smacked him upside the head before looking towards Cap. 

"This is Oliver- Green Arrow," she said, jutting her hip out to the side. "I'm Black Canary, but my friends call me Dinah. And don't worry about getting up, Captain. Ollie's just being a drama queen," she said, pecking him on the cheek before flicking his ear.

The archer glared at her before sighing. "Yeah, I'll find somewhere else, no big," he said with a small grin.

Cap was still moving however- anxiety was getting the better of him by this point. He'd stolen Green Arrow's seat, upset Flash- maybe he shouldn't have come--

A sudden hand gripping his shoulder tightly brought him out of his thoughts, finding Bruce holding onto him. He glanced at the billionaire, and the man gave him a look. "Bill, it's okay. No one's upset," he said, with the authority yet warmth in his voice that had the demigod's anxious fog vanish into thin air.

He swallowed thickly and nodded, sitting back down on the couch.

"Wait, Bill? You're name's _Bill?"_ Barry asked with wide eyes. "That is- that's like the most white bread, accountant-esque name I've ever heard!" he said with a grin. "Wait, is it short for William? Can I call you Willy?" he gasped. "Can I call you _Billiam_???" he asked in a rapid-fire, which had the demigod chuckling. 

"You know, that's what I always thought of the name 'William'. But uh, yeah, you can call me whatever you like. Cap or Will, or uhh.. I think Mr. Wayne said that Liam was another version of the name..." he trailed off, chewing on his bottom lip in thought.

Flash grinned brightly, glancing at Hal, only for the man to roll his eyes and shake his head. "I'm going with Bilson, I hope you know," he said with a smirk.

Cap chuckled, a smile spreading across his face. "Didn't know that was an option."

"I'm gonna keep callin' him brick wall- suits ya," Oliver said with a smirk from his place among a pile of pillows, Dinah snuggled up beside him. Cap nodded once in agreement. 

"That's fair."

"If we're coming up with variations, I'll stick with Bill," Superman said with a warm grin, leaning against the frame of the couch. Diana smirked at the man beside her before meeting the Captain's eyes. 

"Wilhelm."

"Why do I feel like this is becoming a contest of some kind?" Cap asked with a smirk, looking around the group of collective superheroes. Batman sat down beside him, glancing at him before opening a book he must have pulled from some kind of void, cause he was sure he hadn't had that on him when they'd first walked in.

"If that's the case, I'll call you Billy."

Well, if it _was_ a contest, Bruce would have just won. The demigod smiled at him, only to get a smirk in response. "So uh- I was told this was a movie thing," he said, looking around the room. Barry was up in an instant, blurring to another room before appearing in the middle of all of them with a stack of movies.

"Sure is, Cap-i-tan. We just gotta choose one."

"Ooh- horror movie, I am totally down to be scared out of my pants by Jason or Freddy," Oliver said before Dinah stole a piece of popcorn from him. "Hey!"

"Nah- we did horror last time," Flash replied, digging through the massive stack he'd brought out.

"What about a romantic comedy? Just Like Heaven is a good one," Superman suggested, only to get a face from Flash.

"With the number of times you offer up a movie that has Mark Ruffalo in it, I'm startin' to think you got a crush on the guy, Supes," Barry said with a chuckle. "Besides, do we wanna have them two start making out halfway through again? No thank you..." the blonde replied with a jab of the thumb towards Oliver.

"Ooh- we could do an action movie," he said, glancing around the room. "We got Die Hard, Terminator, Fast and Furious..."

"Barry, our lives _are_ an action movie," Diana said with a smirk.

"Sci-fi! Let's do sci-fi!" Hal said excitedly, sitting up in his seat.

"Hal, you always suggest sci-fi."

Yeah, and how often do we actually watch sci-fi? Play Back To The Future!" the brunet said excitedly, a wide smile on his face.

Barry rolled his eyes. "What do you think, Cap? Back to the Future or something better, like an action movie?" he asked, glancing towards the demigod.

The raven in question froze- he had been happy just to be there, he wasn't expecting to actually be included in the conversation! He had no idea what any of these movies were- the last time he'd seen a movie had been when he was like, five! 

"I uh... what's... what's Back To The Future about?"

The room went silent.

"That's funny Cap," Barry said, still looking through the movies. When the demigod didn't say anything else, the blonde looked up at him. "Good God, you're serious." 

Billy felt his cheeks heat up. "Sorry..."

"Don't be- we just have to fix this situation immediately," Barry said, pulling out three different movie cases. "Got all three parts right here."

Hal grinned, practically vibrating in his seat- Barry gave him a look. "Don't think this is a win, Hal. I'm doing this because our dear Captain is woefully ignorant about important media," he said with a glare towards the Lantern.

Cap swallowed thickly, glancing around the room as Flash sped about, flicking off the lights, distributing blankets and pillows, and finally, plopping down between Billy and Hal- and resting his head on the demigod's shoulder. "Ooh, you're a soft one, Billiam," he said offhandedly as. credits began to roll. 

The speedster was surprisingly soft, and the touch was nice- he just noticed that Bruce had kept his leg touching Billy's this entire time- grounding him without realizing it. a soft smile graced his face in the darkness as he settled back against the couch.

He'd have to come to the next one of these things.

\- - -


End file.
